


Lisa Turpin, Writer

by Slumber



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Character Study, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-25
Updated: 2011-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:42:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26392849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Slumber/pseuds/Slumber
Summary: Lisa Turpin, her two other pseudonyms, and the stuff she writes.
Collections: 30-minute Writer's Block Challenge





	Lisa Turpin, Writer

i. Lisa Turpin

For as long as she can remember, Lisa Turpin has enjoyed writing. When she was five she wrote her first real fairy tale, about a little princess born to a dragon family and who grew up thinking she can breathe fire but only blowing bubbles. When she was eight she started drawing pictures to accompany those stories, and it was always something that her family enjoyed making her read around the holidays, when Aunt Margaret and Uncle Bill and Nan and Gamps were all gathered around with her mum and dad and two little brothers.

But even Lisa's overactive imagination couldn't prepare her for the magic of receiving her first Hogwarts letter.

Her first year there was spectacular, save for that moment when apparently a dark wizard had infiltrated the school on the back of the head of one of their professors. There were so many things, so many magical creatures and spells and charms to learn and discover.

In her third year she realized she'd probably run out of stories to tell. It was hard, she thought, to make up things more fantastical or more amazing than the ones happening right then and there. They had attacks on students! Mad men on the loose! A boy saviour! She was rather disappointed to find her magical-born classmates found entertainment in series like Martin the Mad Muggle, something that was all at once ridiculous, offensive, and boring to her Muggleborn sensibilities.

In her fourth year she started to subscribe to the Daily Prophet, got another subscription to the Quibbler, and decided perhaps journalism is where her writing future lay.

She began writing digests and rumor posts that got distributed around the Ravenclaw Common Room. Articles like "Who's Harry Potter Asking to the Yule Ball?" and "Extra! Extra! Triwizard Task Rumored to Involve Merpeople!" got passed around, and for a while she thought it was quite enjoyable a task.

Then Umbridge came to Hogwarts, and then seventh year happened.

She spent that year on the run, hiding with relatives where her family could. She almost didn't return if not for a fateful run-in with Rita Skeeter, who in real life turned out to be sharper and blonder than in her by-line. She stood gawking for a moment, and when they got to talking Rita told her there might be an opening in the Daily Prophet.

Turns out when they send their reporters to cover war stories, not all of them return alive.

So Lisa got assigned to assist on the Ministry beat, and eventually she took it on full-time. She kept track of the politics and gossip in the Ministry, noted down new edicts and monitored the legislation that got passed after the war. It was as reality-based as she could get, and while she was grateful to be writing for a job, some days she wanted to spork her eyes out of boredom.

Because the truth is, her heart had always been in fantasy.

ii. Lila Tarantallegra

She doesn't remember when it happened or how it began, but one day while the Ministry took a week or so off before reconvening she picked up a quill and a roll of parchment, and began to write.

There was no new fantastical world to be found here, no crazy take on magic to rebuild. Instead there was a kitchen wench and a cheeky knight, and over the next few weeks, during lunch breaks and late at night, when Lisa was all alone in her flat with just a cup of coffee, "The Conquest of Sir Cadogan" was born.

She didn't even know where to begin looking for publication, but thankfully there were very few publishing companies in the wizarding world. Whizz Hard Books took an interest, slapped on a magically moving book cover and and then, just like that, she became Lila Tarantallegra as well.

For some reason the supply for wizarding bodice rippers had taken a bit of a dip in the aftermath of war--Lisa didn't want to know what happened to the writers during; as with everything, she supposed, there were just casualties--but demand for it had not abated. "Sir Cadogan" rocketed to the best-sellers, edging out "The Secrets of Severus Snape" by a slight margin. She supposed it only meant that the world was more than ready to find a means to forget than they were eager to know more. 

She wrote a few other books in the "Sir Cadogan" series, eventually branching out to write other hits like "Belladonna" and "Portkey Me to Paradise". It was oddly rewarding at times, and mildly amusing most others. She'd never suspected her high-brow taste in literature would manifest in such carnal writing, but she wasn't about to complain.

iii. Lily Thomas

It took her perhaps a few more years of writing as Lila before she realized the niche she'd been looking for had been there for her all along. When Mary from Features brought her young niece to work Lisa asked the little girl what book she was reading.

"'The Tales of Beedle the Bard'," Elisabeth had told her. Lisa picked it up after work and found herself wondering what stories young wizards and witches were being told before they went to bed at night.

She found there were too many fables, and not enough of the fantastic, so when she picked up her quill that night, she rewrote her story about the princess (a young witch, now) brought up by dragons (in a Romanian reserve!) and how she learned to breathe fire. It wasn't the scene where Alaric was supposed to confess his undying devotion to Cassandra, as she had promised her editor, but when she finished, early the next morning, she was more pleased than she'd ever been before.


End file.
